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Lyanna is only allowed to come home after Rhaegar's coronation.
Benjen has already been sent for, but she is the one who is made to bend the knee. Her brother comes as a hostage, not a lord, and she won't even get to see him before she leaves. He'll not be the only "foster" of King's Landing, but he is the most out of place. Only he has been stripped of his rightful title after all.
(“Eddard can take the black, and Benjen will foster here to remind the people that the Starks have been loyal for centuries. This stain on your honour will be erased with the next generation. Our son will be the Warden of the North, after all,” Rhaegar had said like it was a kindness to rip her kin away from her.
Rhaegar wants a Targaryen in the North for the sake of his prophecy and is not above legitimising his bastard as a Stark to make it happen. Lyanna swears her son will be no dragon.)
Renly Baratheon, stick-thin after the siege of Storm's End, has seen one brother starve to death and the other beheaded. Edmure Tully is made to pay for his now dead father's gamble and his sisters' doomed marriages, contending with the fact that Lysa is now a disgraced widow and Catelyn the pregnant bride of a traitor. Jasper Arryn, son of the Darling of the Vale has to watch Jon Connington, his father's slayer preen at Rhaegar's side, aware that the future of House Arryn now rests on his shoulders.
Like Benjen, the three are here as fosters to the Crown. Unlike him, they will only stay until they can rise to the Lord Paramountcy of their respective lands, their seats held by proxies until such a time comes for them to be considered sufficiently educated on the mistakes of their forebears.
The three boys bend the knee by Lyanna's side, and their regents watch on from their own show of obeisance with barely concealed anxiety.
Catelyn Tully bites her lip bloody and clutches the seven-pointed star around her neck hard enough for her fingers to turn white. Lyanna remembers that she and her sister will have to bury their father when they reach Riverrun. Then she remembers that she'll have nothing of Rickard Stark to bring home and ice forms in her chest. She has no word of comfort for Ned's bride, though she will need to ask her if the babe in her belly will be a Tully or a Stark.
Eldon Estermont keeps his calm, but only just. Lyanna remembers speaking to him at Harrenhal. Renly's uncle had told him she would make a fine Lady for Storm's End, and that he looked forward to seeing her succeed his sister. Now he glances at her like he wants to spit in her face.
Arwen Arryn, Jon Arryn's niece and the wife of Denys Arryn, her distant cousin, stares at her son in anguish, her arms twitching as she restrains herself from tucking him to her chest. Lyanna looks at her own babe, held in the arms of Howland Reed. Her friend inclines his head, his eyes full of sorrow. She remembers a shield with a painted laughing tree and yearns for simpler times.
(There was nothing simple about the reckless act that sealed her fate. Had she not attracted Rhaegar's attention, she would still have a family. Now she only has a child, and a new moniker: she is the Whore of Winterfell.)
After the coronation, as Lyanna is gathering the vassals of House Stark who have not yet returned North and preparing for their departure from the Capital, she is asked if she left willingly.
She does not know how to answer this.
The truth is, Lyanna ran.
She ran from a betrothal she did not wish for. She did not think Robert would respect her, let alone make her happy, and she resented her father for taking her from the North she called home. Her stint as the Knight of the Laughing Tree gave her the idea. She could go to Essos, become a sellsword. That was the plan. But then she met Rhaegar as she rode through the Riverlands, and he recognised her immediately.
He wouldn't let her go without her telling him where she was going. When she finally admitted to her plans, he offered to escort her to Dorne, where no one would look at a girl in armour. There she could take a boat for Braavos, he assured her, and no one would know.
She was so relieved. Finally someone understood that she wasn't meant to be a lady, that she yearned for more and had the courage to grasp it.
Throughout their travels, the prince and Arthur Dayne, his right-hand man treated her like an equal. After yearning for it for so long, she was finally free. She was exultant, and thought herself invincible.
When they arrived at the Tower of Joy, Rhaegar acted like this was only a brief stop. That night, he told her about a prophecy, then he kissed her. This was the first truthful thing he had told her in moons, and as she listened to him, she saw for herself the shape of his previous lies. Her freedom was a farce, and she was trapped.
She was smart enough to know she could not fight her way out, so she played at being docile and waited for an opportunity.
It never came, and soon she was pregnant.
Lyanna was fifteen, and so, so naive.
A year and a war later, she should not be much wiser. But life is a harsh mistress, and she paid for her foolishness with fire and blood. Now that she knows better, her heart once full of childish dreams seems to have turned into ice and steel.
"I didn't," she says and it does not feel like a lie. "But he'll tell you otherwise."
She gave birth in King's Landing. When it was over, Elia Martell came to her bedside. She took a wet cloth from the basin and used it to wipe her sweaty face. Lyanna let her do so, impassible.
"I'm sorry," said Elia, her voice so quiet Lyanna almost thought she had imagined it. "For everything. Rhaegar... The Crown took so much from you."
"Don't be sorry for me. You are the one who has to be his queen," she had replied, before closing her eyes and refusing to acknowledge the woman any further.
Deep down, she was relieved that Elia did not believe her a whore like all the Southron court seemed to think. But Rhaegar had still tricked her, and the blood of innocents, of her own family, was still in her hands. It was a meagre comfort in the face of that guilt.
Lyanna Stark haunts her own keep in the few weeks after her return, drifting between grief and disbelief.
It does not feel like home anymore. How could it? Her father is dead. Brandon is dead. Ned is at the Wall, and little Benjen pays for her mistake. And her son, who should rightfully be named Snow, is now the future Warden of the North.
She names him Jon, after a brave King of Winter and in honour of her brother's foster father. She could not bring herself to name him after one of the loved ones she failed. Besides, unlike Robert, Jon Arryn died in battle. He was spared the scorn and humiliation that followed. Ned might have received an apology from Rhaegar for the deaths of their father and brother, but none for taking Lyanna. At the time, she was relieved. She hadn't wanted her brother to look at her with disgust. Now she sees it for the insult it is.
For Jon's first name day, she calls the Lords of the North to Winterfell. She half-believes they won't answer, but they do. To a man, her people come, and she is left to look at them and count the death tally for each House in her head.
The atmosphere is tense. Some of the men gathered at her table blame her entirely for the war and the death of their liege lord. She cannot begrudge them that. She blames herself as well.
But like her, they blame Rhaegar more, and that is what allows her to keep her nerves.
Let them resent her, as long as they love her son and hate his father.
She tells them that the King wanted a dragon in the North and thought he got his wish, but her son has the wolf's blood.
He looks every inch a Stark, and will be nothing else.
She will teach him to never trust a Targaryen. She will tell him about Brandon Stark, who died looking for his sister, and about Rickard Stark, who pleaded for his son's life. She will tell him about Ned Stark who went to war for family and honour, and now protects the realms of Men at the Wall. She will tell him about Aerys the Mad and Rhaegar the Liar who caused a war that tore the realms apart.
After that, Old Nan tells him tales of the First Men and the Kings of Winter unprompted, and Maester Luwin teaches Jon about administration, strategy and rulership. Rodrik Cassel teaches him the ways of a warrior. Together, they all prepare him for the future they are all working for.
And when he is ready, she will present to him the weirwood crown she showed the lords of the North, and tell him the plans she has for them.
She and Benjen write to each other. In the first two years nothing important is said in their letters, aware as they are that their correspondence is being read.
This changes one day, when a white raven awaits Lyanna in the godswood, holding a letter signed "Ben."
(In the Old Tongue, ravens are called wolf birds.)
Her brother tells her about warging, and about what life at court is truly like for the four fosters of House Targaryen. About the loyalist vultures circling them to try and take a chunk of their flesh, about Viserys' casual cruelty and his older brother's disinterest in politics, about Jon Connington, his Hand who despises them with a fierceness that frightens them. He tells her Rhaegar made a mistake by letting them stay together, because they forged a bond strong enough to withstand the dragons' attempts to bring them to heel.
It takes Lyanna a few moons before she succeeds at copying Ben. She sends a letter back with the same raven and warns her brother to burn anything he gets from her with this method. The two Stark siblings enter the game of thrones, and like the old Kings of Winter, they only play to win.
When Balon Greyjoy revolts against the crown, the four fosters of House Targaryen distinguish themselves on the battlefield. They are all knighted and promised they will one day come home, but it is contingent on them making marriages with loyalist Houses. There are no orders, but the expectation is implied. Renly and Benjen, who are closest of the four and also the most belligerent against House Targaryen, plot to ensure the four's marriages will not lead to welcoming spies into their homes.
(Theon Greyjoy is ordered to be raised by House Lannister, but Ben Stark and the three fosters find kinship with the hostage and scheme to help him. Theon finds a family in them, and his loyalty shifts.)
Some time later, Roose Bolton requests an audience from the Lady of Winterfell.
He tells her his son wishes for a brother desperately. He tells her Jon might have a shield in her, but he will also need a sword.
"I can be his sword," tells the man with moon-pale eyes, unblinking, "if you will raise him with my son."
Lyanna and Roose keep their last names, but swear themselves to each other in the Godswood, binding their Houses for years to come. When Roose is in Winterfell, they share a bed. But beyond the first night they spend together, necessary to seal their vows, they do not share each other's bodies. They see no need for it. Lyanna wanted companionship and trust. She gained all that, and more. Roose wanted to give his son a family beyond himself, and he wished for a wife who understood his bloodlust. He finds that Lyanna not only has the wolf's blood, but also its hunger.
Jon gains a brother and a fierce protector in Domeric.
The North as a whole has the most to gain from this union, but they will not realise it for years to come.
Jasper Arryn and Edmure Tully come home after they are wed, and are finally able to rule the land they were born to.
When Ben fails to do the same, Lyanna frets. It takes moons for him to admit he is a sword swallower. Her brother loves Renly, and admits it to her without fear. The two still plan to marry, but are in quiet negotiation with two ladies who prefer sheathes to swords, he tells her. It will take time, but he promises he will come back home. Lyanna gives them her blessing, and tells Ben she looks forward to meeting his other half.
Lyanna and Jon save a female direwolf in the Wolfswood. They take her back to Winterfell, and witness her giving birth to a litter of six pups. Two die in infancy. Lyanna sends one to Robb in Riverrun, and keeps two for Benjen and Ned. Jon becomes enamoured with the runt of the litter, a white pup he names Ghost. Roose calls them a blessing of the old gods. She keeps the she-wolf for herself and finds great humour in naming her Dawn. Lyanna then looks at the two dead pups, and decides to put them in the crypt, where Brandon and her father's bodies should be buried. That night, she cries herself to sleep and swears to see the end of the Targaryen dynasty.
Rhaegar writes to Jon, but he never comes up North to meet him. He is confident in Lyanna's loyalty to him. Her play at obedience during her days at the Tower of Joy served her well, and only Elia Martell and Jon Connington recognised her hatred for Rhaegar for what it was, but the queen breathed no word of it to anyone and the Hand failed to convince anyone, his wariness being mistaken for envy.
Jon takes the prophecy seriously, and visits the Watch with Lyanna. When they go, they invite Jon's cousin Robb, who will meet his father for the first time at the Wall. Rhaegar is magnanimous enough to allow it. No one mentions to him that Lyanna did not ask for permission.
Jon frowns at the state of the Night's Watch. Lyanna might have poured a lot of Winterfell's resources to the Wall to ensure Ned and his men would be well-cared for, it does not stop the Black Brothers from being a cesspit. The Targaryens have made it so with their negligence, after all.
Before they leave, Robb tells Ned that Edmure plans to make him Heir to the Riverlands. He married a barren woman specifically for this purpose, and wishes to see his nephew, who knows the Riverlands in a way Edmure doesn't anymore, succeed him. Ned tells his son he will be a great ruler.
They come back to the announcement of a betrothal between Rhaenys and Aegon Targaryen, Arianne Martell and Viserys Targaryen, and Jon Stark and Daenerys Targaryen. Lyanna is livid.
Benjen's letter reassures her. She tells her son not to worry about it, and makes no move to stop the marriage. Jon is curious, but he does not insist. He trusts in his mother.
Once, she feared that raising her son to keep distrust for his own father into his heart would make him resent her, but she soon found that Jon is good like few nobles are. Unlike her, who let the poison of grief and guilt twist her into something she never wished to be, Jon turned his back against the Targaryens because he loves the North and their family, and considers them his to defend. He loves her fiercely, and he sees her pain and that of the whole North, so he takes them as his own. This is what moves him, not something as ugly as hatred. Lyanna's son is fair and honourable in a way she doesn't have the heart to be, but she taught him how to draw blood too, and that will help him survive.
Domeric is the one who comes to her and asks if it is truly alright to leave things as it is. Through the passing years, Lyanna has come to think of this boy as her son too, and she understands that he needs more reassurance than Jon does. So she shows him the letter, and watches as he laughs and laughs and laughs.
Moons later, Ben's prediction comes true, and Daenerys Targaryen flees home in the dead of the night, a sennight before she was meant to make the journey to meet her betrothed. Unlike Lyanna, she makes it to Essos with no issue and disappears without a trace. Not even Lord Varys will find any thread tying her escape to the fosters' involvement.
(She will come back years later, with three dragons on her side. Rhaegar, who will have failed to instil loyalty in a sister he allowed his younger brother to torment, will find no mercy in her. The only person of Targaryen blood she will allow to touch her dragons will be Jon Stark, who will call her Khaleesi and wish her and her children a good return back to Essos when the fight is over. In the centuries to follow, she will be called Daenerys Breaker of Chains and the Doom of House Targaryen, in recognition of the fact that she could have saved her family from ruins but chose otherwise, deciding her children were better used as instruments of liberation than as tools of oppression. After she dies, with no child of her flesh but three children of her heart to succeed her, the last three dragons in the world fly away, never to be seen again.)
When Ned sends proof of the existence of the Others, they prepare accordingly. They negotiate with the Night's Watch and settle the wildlings in the Gift, and Jon writes to all the Lords of the North to warn them to anticipate the start of the war for the Dawn.
When the South finally decides to act, House Stark is already years ahead. Lyanna has stepped back from her role as Lady of Winterfell, and lets her son rule as he always was meant to. She spends most of the year in the Dreadfort, finally taking on the name of Lady Bolton though the North will always know her as Lady Stark.
Jon should have been a Snow. But as a Stark he will lead his people in the war for the dawn.
And when the fighting is over, Lyanna will ask a dying Rhaegar Targaryen whether his House will allow the Seven Kingdoms to regain their independence or if they will have to be made to do so.
Aegon and Rhaenys will protest and look to Jon for help, but he will impassively stand by Domeric Bolton's side and say, "I do not know you, and you are no siblings of mine."
Domeric will add with a smile of triumph, "The North Remembers."
"The North are not the only ones who have long memories," will proclaim Renly Baratheon, backed by Jasper Arryn, Edmure Tully and Ben Stark.
If they look at House Lannister, they will find Brienne of Tarth, the second wife of the late Jaime Lannister who never forgot Renly Baratheon's kindness and her loyalty to Storm's End. They will see their ward Theon the last Greyjoy, who Tywin Lannister has never allowed to forget his place and who found solace in his admiration for the heroes of the realm who were in the same situation as him.
At Robb Tully's arm they will see Margaery Tyrell, and at Edmure's a Redwyne aunt of hers who befriended the four fosters at court.
Queen Elia will remember an old conversation she had with Lyanna, and quietly take her children to stand by Doran's heir Trystane and her niece Arianne, who discreetly assassinated Viserys and left Dorne to wed Jasper Arryn after she was remonstrated for it by her father who still covered up her crime.
Rhaegar Targaryen will die knowing that he was indeed instrumental in fulfilling the prophecy, but that his single-minded focus on this accomplishment will come at the cost of everything his family worked towards.